This hurts worse if you’re female (I am), from what we’ve gathered together on this forum. It’s one of the most painful experiences in my life - though nowhere near as bad as bladder Botox - at least Botox actually helps! I’ve had 26 surgeries and two kinds of cancer, fallen down a cliff, etc., and for me a cystoscopy was one of the most shockingly painful experiences of my life. I had no idea how bad it would hurt, so that shock didn’t help, made it worse (I wasn’t on the forum yet back then). I would call your physician and ask if you can get a medication like Percocet or Tramadol in advance, just one pill, to take about an hour before you have the procedure done. Also, you might ask for one tablet of Xanax. Combine the two. Take on a very empty stomach for best effect and fastest digestion of the medications. But then you’ll need someone to drive you. But I promise you’ll have a much better experience!
Part of why catheters, in general, hurt worse in women is that our urethras are much smaller in diameter than in a male, so more of our tissue is torn by a catheter.